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So – one of the resolutions I was kicking around for 2016 was to blog more often, perhaps daily. I got up bright and early on January 1st… ok, that’s a lie. I got up around 8 a.m. after the cat batted my nose repeatedly. But I got up, and after the morning ritual of feeding the cats, thought I would log into the blog and write a little something.

Unfortunately, my hosting provider (Linode) was suffering a DDoS and connecting to my server between 1 January and yesterday proved difficult if not impossible. Here’s hoping the rest of 2016 goes a little smoother!

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, We can work almost anywhere, anytime. That’s… probably unhealthy. I mean, it’s great when you’re supposed to be working. As long as you have a solid Internet connection(*) and a quiet room (and electricity), you can be productive anywhere.

Which leads to temptation to … work from anywhere. Even when you’re on vacation. (This phrase may be less applicable outside the United States. Insert joke here about European vs. American vacation response messages.) This has certainly been true for me, when I’m on vacation I have generally felt compelled to check in on email, which leads to responding to email, which leads to… not so much really feeling like I’m on vacation.

This week I’m going to be in Churchill, Canada to observe polar bears, Northern Lights, and generally take a breather. While I occasionally grab a day or two of PTO here and there, I’ve not done much proper vacationing. For many years I was freelancing and… I was never very good at feeling that I could step away for a week or three to vacation when I was being paid by the piece or stipend. So, I’m going to do my best to make it stick and actually not do any work while away.

() Don’t make your co-workers put up with lousy connectivity. Sometimes it’s unavoidable (e.g., during conference travel) but if you can’t count on reliable connectivity and quiet surroundings… maybe re-think whether working from a cafe is *really workable.

After fiddling with Octopress for quite some time, I’ve decided that I still prefer WordPress. So, here we are. May or may not try to import Octopress posts back into WordPress, depending on how much free time and interest I have. (Right now, it’s very minimal…)